LONDON: The head of Britain’s fiscal watchdog resigned on Monday after the agency last week inadvertently released key details of the government’s annual tax and spending budget before finance minister Rachel Reeves announced them in parliament.
The resignation of Richard Hughes came shortly after the Office for Budget Responsibility said in a report that the lapse on November 26 appeared to have occurred with a similar fiscal report earlier this year.
Reuters, which was the first media organization to publish details of the OBR’s report last week, also published details of its March budget update report when it became publicly accessible online ahead of its official publication time, while Reeves was still making her speech to parliament.
Last week’s early release of the details of 26 billion pounds ($34 billion) worth of tax increases alongside the OBR’s economic forecasts led to mockery and anger among some lawmakers.
Reeves began her budget speech by calling the lapse “deeply disappointing” and a serious error on the part of the OBR.
